Crimson Attachments
by sushi.seashells
Summary: A collection of one-shots about Shiki and Rima. //May contain OOCness. Updated when convenient.//
1. Rain

**I - Rain**

"Rima."

The orange haired girl didn't answer, didn't even move from her sitting position on the low brick wall. _She's ignoring me_, the red haired boy thought, _great._

He sighed. "Rima, you'll get sick. Come on, Rima."

No answer.

"Look, I'm sorry, Rima. I didn't mean to. _Please_, Rima."

It didn't work, though it wasn't as if Shiki had expected it to. When his friend was mad, it usually took quite a bit of time and effort to gain her forgiveness, except, time was exactly what he was lacking, if he wanted Rima to come in unscathed from the cold rain outside. So he decided to take another approach, glad that she couldn't see the smirk that was creeping onto his face.

"If you don't come in here now, I swear I'll set the Day Class students on you."

That got her to move, though she passed him without a word. She did, however, reach out suddenly to grab the towel he held out. He felt a smile tug at his lips.

* * *

Shiki found her in her room hours later, sneezing, with the covers pulled up to her chin. "I told you." He couldn't help a smile.

She scowled and glared at him. Shiki ignore her.

"Here," he said, holding out a pill and a glass of water, "they'll help."

"No."

He looked at her meaningfully; a silent understanding passed through them.

_Take it.  
__I don't need it.__  
Yes, you do.__No I—  
Rima._  
…_Fine._

She reluctantly took them, still glaring at her friend, and plopped the small pill into her mouth, washing it down with a gulp of water.

"Good. Now," Shiki started, looking directly into Rima's bright cerulean eyes. "Forgive me, please?"

"No." She turned so her back was towards him. There was a sigh, and then Rima felt her eyes widen slightly when she felt him lie down beside her. "Hey," she protested, turning.

"No one's going to find out," he said calmly.

"No that—" though she had to admit she was slightly worried about that now, "—you—you might get sick too."

"Doesn't matter. I deserve it, anyway, right?"

_Yes_, she couldn't help thinking, as Shiki folded her into his arms, _you do_.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** ...I hate this part. I do not own VK in any way.

**A/N:** I recently began to like this pair, so, this story ended up happening.

Review, please? Constructive criticism appreciated.


	2. Names

**II - Names**

For as long as he remembered, she had always called him 'Shiki'.

It wasn't as if Rima didn't know his first name (_how absurd_). His mother had made sure the two of them were properly introduced when they had been no more than toddlers, at a small playground. At first, Shiki didn't use the orange-haired girl's first name either; they barely knew each other. Years later, although Shiki had begun to get used to the name "Rima", the girl herself had never given any indication of moving to a first-name basis with him.

He tried to ask her about it, but Rima always seemed to have an excuse ("We're going to be late for that photo shoot, Shiki," or, "Later, I'm already late meeting so-and-so.") on hand to avoid answering. She would dash off, and then make a point to avoid him for the rest of the night.

_Not this time._

_

* * *

_

The first thing he noticed standing on the other side of the door to Rima's room was that Ruka was in the room with her. Shiki sighed; his hand paused an inch from the wooden door. How was he supposed to talk to Rima privately now? (Asking in front of Ruka was bound to send her gossiping about it to the entire Night Class. Shiki knew her too well.)

"Shiki? Is that you?" Said boy froze. _Rima. Of course she heard you; you're not the only vampire here. Idiot._

He turned the brass doorknob, opened the door, and poked his head through. "Hello."

Rima rolled her eyes, got up from her seat on a bed, and promptly half-dragged Shiki into the room. He heard Ruka giggle. "Well, I'll be going now, guys," she said. Shiki glanced at her in time to see a knowing smile on her face before she hurried out of the room. He suppressed an urge to shake his head.

Rima cocked her head up at him when Ruka's footsteps died away. "What now, Shiki?"

"Why do you insist on calling me that?"

She groaned. "Oh, no, not this again, Shiki, first Ruka, now you. We have a photo shoot to get to, Shiki; can't we discuss this another time?"

"How long is it going to take for you to explain yourself, Rima?"

She didn't answer. _I win._ He fought hard against the smile that was just beneath the surface. "So?"

"It sounds better," Rima said after a good two minutes. Shiki feigned a hurt look. There was one advantage of knowing someone since their childhood: you could see right through them. "I'm serious, Rima."

She pouted slightly. "What would the others think, though?"

"What would they think?"

"You know there are already rumours about us, right?" She looked at him meaningfully. "What would they think if I start using your first name all of a sudden?"

He shrugged. Yes, he did know. "So what?"

Rima sighed. "Anyway, first names are supposed to be used by people in the family."

"And we're not just as close as siblings?"

Silence.

"Let's see, how about I call you 'Senri' when we're alone?" Shiki almost flinched at her sudden proposal, after the quiet that lasted nearly five minutes. Then he smiled. "Sure."

_I win._

"Oh, no, now we're _really_ going to be late, Shi—Senri."

Shiki smiled to himself. "Yeah, get dressed, I'll be outside."

* * *

**Disclaimer:** I do not own VK. Happy now?

**A/N:** Inspiration deserted me near the end. Sorry about that.


	3. Pocky

**III - Pocky**

"Hey, Shiki, why do you like Pocky so much?"

Said vampire just looked at his friend silently, not responding and not intending to.

Because in truth, he never used to hold such a high opinion of the chocolate covered sticks until the blond haired girl had come along.

* * *

"_Pocky again?"_

_The girl looked up at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Don't you get tired of it?" Shiki threw back at her, the usual laziness (which Rima had long since grown used to) apparent in his voice._

"_No."_

…_Was it just him, or had there been a slightly offended note in her voice? Shiki sighed internally, and resumed staring blankly out the slightly fogged school window, like he had been doing before his best friend had walked in holding a box of the sweets._

_Most of the other vampires that attended here would probably have broken—or tried to break—the near-absolute silence that followed (Rima was constantly munching on the thin sticks). But unlike them, Rima was completely home in silence, and the lack of it would sometimes upset her. _

_But that was why he liked her. _

"_Want one?"_

_And so, it was perfectly natural—or at least Shiki thought so—to have been surprised when Rima went and broke said silence. He raised an eyebrow. "Sorry?"_

"_I know you aren't deaf. I asked if you wanted one." Rima thrust the Pocky box at him, in offering._

_Shiki blinked. "No, thanks."_

_Rima shrugged, and then took the chocolate covered stick out of its box, ready to toss into her mouth. _

Wait—was that the last—

_Shiki glanced at the box in the other vampire's hand._

…Well—what could it hurt?_ he thought, before his hand darted out and snatched the last of the pack of Pocky out of Rima's fingers, and bit into it._

_The girl blinked—the only action that betrayed her surprise. "You could have just said yes."_

_Shiki smirked. "I changed my mind."_

"_At the last second? That isn't like you," she insisted, half-jokingly._

_Then, as if it had been an after thought, she smiled. Not those false smiles that she always had adorning her features in most of their photo shoots, but a genuine, amused smile._

Maybe_, he decided, though he had a feeling his friend was laughing at him, _Rima's right to like these so much…

* * *

_Yes_, Shiki thought to himself, long after the initial question had been asked (and probably, forgotten), _you can blame that on Rima._

_

* * *

_

**Disclaimer: **Nope, not mine.

**A/N:** Yeah, I know, not exactly 'good', but I had to get this idea out of my head. Sorry. ^^;_  
_


	4. Cranes

**IV - Cranes**

_A ten-year old Shiki leant curiously towards his friend. "What are you doing, Rima?"_

_The girl in question glanced briefly towards him, before looking back at the small, square-shaped sheet of paper in front of her. She expertly made a clean, neat fold, splitting the square into two halves._

"_Origami," she replied shortly, her blue eyes still intent on the paper._

_The boy blinked. "Why?"_

_Rima sighed and finally put down her project. "You know that story, don't you? The one where if you folded a thousand paper cranes, you'll be granted a wish?"_

"_Oh, that." This time it was him that looked away first, losing interest. "That's stupid. It's not as if it's true."_

_

* * *

_

Well, that's what he'd said, anyway. Shiki sighed, and shifted his position on the couch opposite the bed in which Rima was asleep in.

Normally, he wouldn't have been so agitated. But normally wasn't when his friend had been asleep for a day and a half and counting, because his father had used _his_ body to hurt her that badly.

_How did things get this complicated?_ He asked himself silently. Glancing over at his friend and modelling partner, he added, _Wake up, Rima._

Shiki sighed once more before getting up. _Well,_ he thought to himself again, _I suppose it doesn't hurt to give it a try…_

The first cranes he folded barely resembled birds at all. They had lopsided wings, or lopsided heads, or uneven folds, or all three. They were a far cry from what he remembered Rima making when they were younger.

But he persisted.

And, there were results. After the tenth-or-so ones, he got the hang of it, and the ones after that looked a lot cleaner, though still imperfect. Shiki smiled briefly to himself, and continued.

* * *

He got something close to three hours of sleep that day, instead focusing almost all of his attention on the cranes. He had 102 of the small white birds the first night.

The vampire got faster the more he made, totalling 316 the next night.

Then 581. Then 702. Rima showed no signs of returning to the waking world, but now her friend had something to do while she slept the wound off. Because of that, though, he slowed his pace. Maybe it was to stall the disappointment of her not waking up when the thousandth one was completed, because it _was_ just a legend.

He only had 756 the night after. Then 802. 863, 911. 957…

999.

Shiki was reluctant to pick up the last sheet of paper. When he finished this one, it would be one thousand. When he did, he found himself staring at it with the same intensity as he remembered Rima had, and creasing more precisely, so that everything matched perfectly like it should have.

As he folded in the head of the crane, something cracked. It was a harsh sound, but it wouldn't have fazed him, had it not come from the direction of Rima's temporary room.

He hadn't time to register disappointment for the story not to have come true, only registering the fact that if anything else happened to Rima, she couldn't wake up anymore, as he dashed to the room. The boy had just enough time to shove the last origami bird into a pocket.

* * *

It had fallen out as soon the pair left the crumbling building that was their 'school'.

Shiki hadn't noticed, because Rima was indeed finally awake. But he wasn't naïve enough to believe that it had anything to do with the origami. The other vampire in question leant down and picked the white bird up, examining it.

She knew immediately what he'd been doing.

"So, Shiki. Who said that this was stupid?"

Rima waved the paper craft in her friend's face, before dashing off, daring him to catch her.

_How does she have that much energy? _he asked himself, before tiredly chasing after.

* * *

**Disclaimer: **Disclaimer applied.

**A/N:** And another. This is something of a prequel and continuation of chapter 43, I guess: a rusting idea that's been in my head for ages. There's probably a million mistakes in here because I wrote this sleep deprived, I'm sorry about that. =[

Leave a review, please and thanks? :D


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